Delphine Cormier returns from Frankfurt armed with a smile and a knife.
Delphine Cormier returns, but she doesn't.
The sun is setting when Delphine gets in the back of a taxi, gives the driver an address and says it firmly, her mouth forming words and saying, silently, if you tell anyone about this, I will tear you apart.
He drives.
Delphine's own reflection in the window is foreign, and
sometimes she sees blood dripping down her lips, too.
Sometimes Delphine remembers that she's not the one who's dying.
Delphine Cormier returns from Frankfurt armed with the universe, and the car pulls over and crashes into a building.
She smashes the glass, rips her way out of the vehicle like she's crawling out of a grave, and she runs, she runs, until a hand clenches around her wrist and pulls her away, white fingernails, cold skin, it happens so fast, and then -
"Back so soon, Dr. Cormier?"
Rachel's voice is honey-sweet.
"Yes," she replies, "did you really think that I would stay away from Cosima?"
Rachel considers this. "No," she admits, "I knew you'd come back for her."
Delphine doesn't say anything about the emptiness in Rachel's eyes - eye, her remaining eye is staring Delphine down like a predator. Delphine doesn't let herself fall into this black hole.
"What do you want, Rachel?" She asks. Rachel runs a hand down Delphine's cheek, smiling. "There's no need to fear me," she whispers, " I'm here to take you to Cosima."
Delphine pulls away. "I was never afraid of you," she says. "How is she?"
"Cosima is… enduring." Delphine's mouth curls upwards and for a moment, they're terrified of each other. You take me to Cosima right now, commands Delphine, and Rachel is
amused
shivering
scared
aroused
surprised. Here is Delphine, the ghost of Delphine. Here is Delphine giving Rachel the predatory stare, here is Delphine biting the side of her cheek and clenching her fists, and this time,
Delphine is not crumbling for Rachel. This cannot be allowed.
"Very well."
Cosima is enduring in a hospital bed, with a machine pumping air through her lungs inoutinoutinoutinout and when Delphine runs to her side, Rachel laughs. Cosima is looking at Delphine - behind Delphine, past Delphine, she is looking
through Delphine like she is glass.
"Mon amour," Delphine whispers, "can
you
hear
me?"
Cosima sees her. "Delphine," she says, "is that you?" Or: Cosima sees her. "I love you," she says, "I love you, Delphine. But I have to go now."
But really: Cosima sees her. Sort of.
There is a shell enduring in that hospital bed. There is a cure in the works, or so Rachel says, but
Rachel is behind her now, and she's whispering, "DYAD is working on a cure."
However -
"However, of course, some compromises had to be made."
Delphine pins Rachel against the wall,
not in the way that Rachel used to, Delphine is not overriden with power or lust, and Rachel is waiting for Delphine to do something. Do something. Let's see the real you, I like the real Delphine, now, do something, Dr. Cormier, and save her.
What Delphine does: she leans in, forearm against Rachel's shoulders, and says, "You lied to me."
Well, yeah.
"Dr. Cormier," Rachel says calmly, "take your hands off of me now. We can talk about this."
Delphine ignores her. "What do you mean by that? Compromises?"
"Unhand me and I'll show you."
Delphine
lets
her
go
hesitantly, steps back hesitantly, and Rachel reaches out, takes her hand and grips it hard, the tips of her white fingernails becoming tinted with Delphine's blood.
I'll show you.
Delphine prays for the best and her prayers fail her. They always end up failing her.
Rachel opens up the door and reveals a room that is blackdark and empty and hollow. Except for Sarah, who is slightly less hollow.
"What have they done to you?" Delphine asks. "I- I thought - I thought you were safe."
"I was," Sarah replies, "but I did what I had to do. For Cosima, yeah? We're - I'm here for Cosima."
Sarah rolls over the we're sadly, wearehere, Ididn'thaveachoice, I'mabadmother, weweresafe, and now: wearehere. "I am so sorry," Delphine says finally.
"I bet you are."
Delphine turns to Rachel. Explain.
"She made her choice," is all Rachel says, turning away and dragging Delphine along with her. I'll get you out of here, Delphine mouths to Sarah, but she is
gone before Sarah can read her lips, although Sarah reads Rachel all over her lips, all the time, like it's a curse. It is.
I'll get you out of here, she says again,, I'll get you out of here and I'll save Cosima even if
I cannot save myself.
"I'd like to be alone with Cosima now."
Rachel leaves her, dismisses her, rather, and Delphine pulls Cosima close, close, close, as close as the machines permit, and says it again. "I'm sorry."
I am so, so sorry that I left you, I will never leave you, I will
always be here.
Delphine ends with I love you, and she's trying to pretend that Cosima isn't dead (she isn't), she's trying to pretend that Cosima is there with her (she is), and she's trying to pretend that she has even a small chance of saving Cosima (she does) (she does) but
Cosima is unresponsive. Breathing. Blinking. But not living. And Delphine is the monitor of 324B21. Delphine is
Rachel's.
Delphine is
a product of DYAD, a monitor, a scientist. This was just another experiment and Cosima was just another subject.
Except: Delphine is. And that, in and of itself, is terrifying.
Good, Delphine thinks. Good. Be terrified.
I've still got that knife.
I've still got that knife, and I've still got a smile, and maybe that's all I have left.